One Step Further – Next Evolution of IBM’s Hybrid Computing

Recently IBM announced the next evolution in IBM zEnterprise System hybrid computing, designed to unleash new business innovation in data centers – see:

http://www-03.ibm.com/press/us/en/pressrelease/35013.wss

Workloads that span mainframe, Linux on System z, IBM AIX, Linux on IBM System x Blades or Microsoft Windows can be consolidated onto the zEnterprise System.

One focus of the July 12 announcement is the introduction of the IBM zEnterprise 114 (z114)—the next generation of the z10 Business Class. Like the z196, the z114 is a workload optimized system, offering a truly integrated hardware platform that is able to intelligently manage workloads across mainframes and distributed systems. The z114 has the same hybrid characteristics and capabilities as the z196, allowing customers to efficiently integrate a diverse set of workloads—and manage it all with the same tools, techniques and resources for consistent, automated and reliable service delivery. Further, this new system is fully capable of participating within a z196 centric ensemble. What is really exciting about this smaller machine: it is affordable also for smaller companies and can brings all advantages of the hybrid computing model to the mid-sized market.

The second key message that was emphasized is the availability of the zEnterprise BladeCenter Extension (zBX) running under Linux (end of September 2011) or Microsoft Windows (as a statement of direction). The IBM zBX is the zEnterprise infrastructure for extending System z qualities of service and management capabilities across a set of integrated, fit-for-purpose System x compute elements in the zEnterprise System. With the recent announcement, IBM introduced the support of select IBM BladeCenter HX5 7873 blades, with capabilities that help promote greater system uptime and energy-smart design . These blades can be installed in the zBX and will allow the zEnterprise access to a wide breadth of applications that run on Linux on IBM System x. The availability of the IBM BladeCenter HX5 7873 blade on the zBX will expand ISV support to IBM zEnterprise System for enterprise Linux applications. The System x offering is targeted for multi-tier applications that interact with mainframe data and transactions. The blades will be provisioned and managed by the zEnterprise Unified Resource Manager.

SUSE supports this recent evolution of the hybrid computing by providing a very special offering to all customers running SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z on an IBM zEnterprise System. So listen carefully now: If you are a SUSE customer with a (new or existing) registered and active subscription for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for System z, you qualify to receive a free Basic subscription for SUSE Linux Enterprise Server for x86. This Basic subscription entitles you to unlimited use of SUSE Linux Enterprise Server with all your zBX hardware. This offering will be available for purchase in September, at the time when the zBX Blades running Linux will be shipped. Want to learn more? Have a look here +

http://www.novell.com/partners/ibm/mainframe/zbx.html

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